International

Business wire

September 16, 1986

OFFICIALS FROM MORE THAN 70 NATIONS gathered Monday in Punte del Este, Uruguay, for the opening of a major international trade conference designed to devise new rules to open world markets and discourage protectionism. The meeting of delegates to the 92-nation General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade -- the first in seven years -- is billed as a historic opportunity to reverse the trend of rising government subsidies and declining market access that have contributed to serious trade imbalances. The United States is a member of GATT.

CITGO PETROLEUM CORP. and Venezuela`s state oil monopoly signed contracts for the purchase of half of Citgo from Southland Corp. of Dallas. Petroleos de Venezuela, the state oil company, will pay $290 million for half the shares in Citgo, based in Tulsa, Okla., the largest independent oil refiner and marketer in the United States. The deal assures crude oil supplies for Citgo for 20 years and guarantees Venezuela an outlet for up to 200,000 barrels a day of its petroleum.

NATIONAL

INTEREST RATES ON SHORT-TERM Treasury securities edged down slightly in Monday`s auction after a big increase last week. The Treasury Department sold $7.82 billion in three-month bills at an average discount rate of 5.16 percent, down from 5.24 percent last week. Another $7.83 billion was sold in six-month bills at an average discount rate of 5.34 percent, down from 5.35 percent last week. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors -- 5.30 percent for three-month bills with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,869.60 and and 5.57 percent for six-month bills selling for $9,730.00. In a separate report, the Federal Reserve said the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, the most popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate home mortgages, rose to 5.79 percent last week from 5.66 the week before.

RUMORED LEAKS of sensitive economic data turned out to be nothing more than lucky guesses, Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige said. Investors who trade on such rumors are fools, he said. An investigation by the department`s inspector general had found no evidence of premature release of government statistics despite rumored leaks of the data in financial markets on four occasions in recent weeks, Baldrige said. The rumors were accurate in predicting a sharp downward revision in the Gross National Product to annual growth of just 0.6 percent in the second quarter. The rumors were also correct in predicting a 1.1 percent rise for July in the Index of Leading Indicators. However, rumors about the July report on the trade deficit and the August report on retail sales proved to be wide of the mark.

BUSINESS INVENTORIES ROSE 0.4 percent in July as a backlog of unsold autos climbed, but overall business sales posted a healthy 0.7 percent increase, the Commerce Department said. Inventories rose to a seasonally adjusted $591.35 billion in July following a 0.4 percent advance in June. Business sales totaled $428.55 billion, with the 0.7 percent increase following a 0.9 percent June advance. The backlog in cars forced automakers to reinstitute attractive cut-rate financing offers to clear out showrooms before the start of the new model year. The combination of rising sales and rising inventories left the inventories-to-sales ratio unchanged at 1.38 in July, meaning it would take 1.38 months to exhaust inventories at the July sales pace. That ratio is considered low, as manufacturers have worked to keep close tabs on inventories.

APPLE COMPUTER INC. on Monday announced a fast new member of its Apple II microcomputer family combining high-quality graphics and sound with a suggested retail price starting at $999. Industry analysts said the Apple IIGS, along with new add-on equipment and an upgrade kit for the popular Apple IIe, should boost company sales considerably for the Christmas season and put more pressure on competitors. It is scheduled to appear on store shelves Sept. 27. The company is planning to market a line of 40 new products to go with it before Christmas.

OTHER MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS: A group of investors reportedly has been put together to buy Allegheny International of Pittsburgh, a company whose assets include two of America`s best- known consumer brands: Sunbeam Appliances and Wilkinson razor blades. The bid would be $25 a share. . . . In Los Angeles, Security Pacific Corp., the second largest bank in California, said it has conditional approval from the Federal Reserve Board to acquire Arizona Bancwest Corp. of Phoenix, the third largest bank in Arizona. . . . In Hershey, Pa., Hershey Foods Corp. said it has agreed to acquire the candy- making operations of Dietrich Corp., which produces Luden`s cough drops, 5th Avenue candy bars and chocolate-covered cherries. . . . General Electric Co. said it has agreed to sell its Chicago-based subsidiary, North American Co. for Life and Health Insurance, to a group of investors headed by former ITT Corp. Chairman Harold S. Geneen.